Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys). Often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

One ingredient, ten products: Incroquat BTMS-50 in a cleansing conditioner

As our final ingredient in this series on Incroquat BTMS-50, we're taking a look at cleansing conditioners.

Cleansing conditioners are no different than regular rinse off conditioners. I know this might not seem to be right, but if you take some time to do some comparisons - click here for mine - you'll see that something like Wen has the same ingredients as conditioners not listed as being cleansing. This isn't to say there aren't differences between those marketing as cleansing and those that are not. Oftentimes cleansing conditioners don't have silicones and sometimes they have low levels of foaming surfactants, but they might also have silicones and no surfactants. There isn't a specific definition for "cleansing conditioner".

In a class I taught at Voyageur Soap & Candle on hair care products, Chi showed me a product she was using and asked for some help in creating a duplication. We came up with a version that she liked and tweaked further. This is her version. She has African type hair, and is finding it works well for her! We added cocamidopropyl betaine because it might offer a bit more cleansing than the conditioner alone, while she added 5% cetrimonium chloride to be more conditioning and detangling, castor oil for moisturizing, HEC (hydroxyethylcellulose - Lotioncrafter link) for thickening, and green tea extract because it's a great anti-oxidant. Cetyl alcohol is a great addition to any conditioner at 50% of the amount of the behentrimonium methosulfate you're adding to your product. It will increase moisturization and substantivity of the conditioner.

You can change the type of oil if you don't have or don't like castor oil. It is considered a more cleansing oil because it has a different make up in its fatty acids - click here for more information - so if you want those features, then use the castor oil.

You can use any other preservative that is suitable for water containing products. We originally used liquid Germall Plus in this recipe, but Chi prefers Optiphen Plus. And feel free to try this with Incroquat BTMS-50 if you wish. You will get a thicker product than Chi's version, so if you want it to be thinner, you can take the amount down to 2% and get the same amount of the active ingredient.

8 comments:

I tried this cleansing conditioner and really like it. I am also Afro-American and found this formula to be very good for my hair as an alternative to shampooing. After I have experimented with it, the only thing I will change is lowering the cetrimonium chloride to 2%. The 5% was not a problem, I just like the lesser amount as it did not make a difference. Thanks again.

I made this but I also made three more of your recipes for shampoo the same day! I used them all and Im not sure which one is my favorite but my hair feels great! I will have to test them one by one next.

I’ve made this recipe twice, first as a 100 g test batch that I loved so much on my hair that I made it again as a 10x batch. What I like is the gentle creaminess that still offers some cleansing. I’m mixed African/European although I’m not sure that describes my hair as everyone has their own unique hair texture. Suffice it to say my hair is thick, very curly, tends to be dry and can be difficult to comb. I didn’t have hydroxyethylcellulose or disodium EDTA for the first test run so I just added 0.15% to the water phase. My scale doesn’t do tenths of a gram, so I just round up. I used coconut oil instead of castor oil and I used oatmeal, milk and honey as the fragrance. It turned out really great! My hair felt smooth and conditioned afterward and my scalp felt cleansed. It worked great on the kids’ hair too, detangling and gently cleansing at the same time. I ordered disodium EDTA and hydroxyethylcellulose for my second batch although it makes a nice product without them, so don’t be afraid to make it if you don’t have them. For the second batch I weighed out my oil phase, using coconut oil again. While weighing out my water phase, I ran out of cocomidopropyl betaine with only 6.8%. I didn’t panic and just added 3.2% more water. I continued as normal with the heat and hold, but then decided to add liquid Jordapon. This would mess up my percentages and dilute the batch, but I just wanted to see how it would turn out. I also ran out of green tea extract and substituted with some chamomile extract. I used strawberry fragrance oil for this batch and added a few drops of rosemary extract. It turned out just fine! It is even creamier than the first time with more lather. Easy combing and still just as gentle. The hydroxyethylcellulose thickened it some but it was good with or without it. I love this recipe. Give it a try! Bye, Shannon.

I made this conditioner yesterday the only change was in the preservative. Unfortunately my hair didn't like it very much at all. I have made several of your hair conditioners and liked them all The intense conditioner is my favorite.

Welcome to the blog!

Meet our new mascot!

Welcome to the blog!

Thanks for stopping by Point of Interest! Pull up a chair, grab your favourite hot beverage, and hang out for a bit. Feel free to add your comments to posts of any age to share your thoughts! It's no fun writing this blog if I don't get to hear from you, my amazing readers!

Have a question that hasn't been asked before? Feel free to write to me at sjbarclay@telus.net and ask away! Please note, I encourage you to do the tour of the blog first and check the newbie section and FAQ first. Then maybe do a search? If you're asking for help with a recipe, I need the complete recipe in percentages and your exact process. I can't help without these, and I won't be able to do a back-and-forth with you to get the information.

As for comments, please find a relevant post and write your comment there. There's no point asking for help with your lotion bar on a post about conditioners as no one will see it but you. Please find something that relates by doing a search or looking at sections like hair care, newbie links, or extracts, for example, post your comments there. It'll make it easier for other people to help you if I can't find time, too. If you post something that is very clearly not related to the post in which you're asking for help, it will go unanswered by me.

I'm not allowing anonymous comments for the time being thanks to some particularly relentless spammers. I am also moderating any comments on posts over 2 weeks old.

There are no old posts! Write your comments anywhere and I will see them, although they will be moderated before posting due to the aforementioned spammers.

Unfortunately I'm not able to offer business consultations at this time as I'm simply too busy. Thank you so much for thinking of me when you need assistance with your formulations. (I may be able to offer this in the future.)

As a note, I am not affiliated with any suppliers or manufacturers of any craft supplies of any type. If I rave about something, it's because I love the ingredient, fabric, beads, etc. not because I've been paid to say something nice! I do get free things from time to time from manufacturers and suppliers, but I make them aware that I will be brutally honest about those ingredients on the blog!

My Patreon page

If you like what I'm offering here on the blog, check out my Patreon page where you can offer a small donation or create a monthly subscription to get even more stuff from the blog, like a monthly e-zine, Q&A, and duplication recipe. The money you donate to me - not the youth programs - will go to creating more content for this blog, creating new e-books and an e-zine, and - we hope - some video content in the future.

My e-books

To raise money for our youth groups, I've put together these e-books! If you want to learn more about the books or donate, click on the bolded links!Or click here for a short description of all the e-books!The new e-book is here! Formulating Facial Products! This 399 page e-book is filled with recipes for facial products, including moisturizers, sera, cleansers (oil and surfactant based), scrubs, gels, and more, as well as entries for ingredients like botanical extracts, cosmeceuticals, emulsifiers, thickeners, essential oil, and more, as well as a large appendix about our oils.

Click here to see the table of contents! If you make a $28 donation to our youth programs, we'll send you a copy of this e-book along with the preservatives, oils, butters, and surfactant charts as a thank you for your kind generosity!

Formulating & Creating Lotions! This 224 page e-book is perfect for those of you familiar with lotion making and ready to start creating your own recipes! I've included all the information I know about the HLB system, as well as my base recipes for lotions, creams, body butters, and moisturizers!

Click here to see the table of contents! If you make a $26 donation to my youth programs, I'll send you a copy of this e-book, an HLB calculator in Excel format, and the carrier oil, exotic oil, butter, and preservative comparison charts.

Lotion Making 101. This 305 page book includes everything you wanted to know about the basics of making lotions, including the chemistry of our lotions, ingredients we use, keeping your lotions safe, equipment you might need, and more recipes than I could count! For those of you who don't have the Back to Basics book, I've included all the carrier oil, exotic oil, and butter profiles.

Click here to see the table of contents. If you make a $29 donation to my youth groups, I'll send you along a copy of this e-book as a thank you. I'll also send you a copy of the carrier oil, exotic oil, butter, and preservative comparison charts!

Back to Basics: Anhydrous Products. This 122 page e-book includes over 50 recipes and explanations for making lotion bars, whipped butters, balms, oil based scrubs, bath melts, bath oils, oil based sprays, solid scrubs, and facial sera, as well as all the carrier oil, exotic oil, and butter profiles and everything I've gathered about the chemistry of our oils including fatty acids, mechanisms of rancidity, phytosterols, and polyphenols.

Click to take peek at the Table of Contents. If you make a $25 donation to the groups, I'll send you a copy by e-mail as a thank you!

Click on the links above to learn more about the books. If you already know what you want or want to make a general donation, click the button below! (I'll know which e-book you want by the amount you've donated!) Thank you so much for supporting our youth groups. You have made it possible for us to continue offering our programs and we finally got that sewing machine!

Please do not write to me about blog matters at this email address. I have taken my other address down for a bit as we grieve the loss of my mother. Please give us the space we need at this time.

I've had to remove my cell phone number due to a number of calls from people wanting to learn how to make lotion. If you are part of the groups or want more information, please email me or call Community Services at 604 792-4267 to get connected.

Who the heck is Swift?

I'm an aspiring cosmetic scientician and DIY girl interested in pretty much any craft you can name - bookbinding, jewellery making, sewing, paper crafts, polymer clay - but my main passion is bath & body product making.
I am currently obsessed with Rock Band 3 (bass and singing) and science books. Did you know my favourite word is "toaster" and my favourite adjective is "hirsute"?
Why is my icon a picture of my dog? Because she's adorable!